Archive for July, 2017

Like we’ve shared before, one of the most crucial times of a monk seal’s life are those weeks after weaning. No longer fed by their mother, the weaner must discover on their own what’s edible and what’s not. Sometimes this involves ingesting some marine organism not typical of a monk seal’s diet, say a sea cucumber. Considered “generalists” by scientists, adult monk seals forage on the ocean floor, using their strong necks to flip over rocks at average depths of 200 feet and deeper, dieting on octopus, eel, flat fish, lobster, and squid.

But not weaners. For the first few months after weaning, they stick closer to shore.

Too, the business of finding food requires monk seals stick their faces in all kinds of nooks and crannies. Weaners seem to excel at this in their curious quest by trial and error to determine their food preferences. Unfortunately, weaners can sometimes run into dangerous situations this way. A few years ago, a young seal hauled out with a plastic ring around his muzzle. That same year, another youngster hauled out with a decaying plastic water bottle around his nose. Some have been found with plastic eel cones affixed to their faces. Last year, one of our volunteers discovered a pup playing with the plastic remains of such a hagfish/eel trap. Now, RJ22, our oldest weaner of the 2017 pupping season ran into a wad of monofilament fishing line left behind at the beach. Luckily, he was able to disentangle himself from the line without intervention.

Here the monofilament line runs through his mouth and around his lower jar.

Note, too, the line around his body–above his fore flippers.

A coiled section of line can also be seen alongside his body here, as well as, some by the mouth.

More line entangled in and around the face.

It’s hard to make out, but in addition to RJ22’s flipper, there’s wad of line in his mouth.

Our local Surfrider group of volunteers does an excellent job of cleaning up our Kaua`i beaches, and for this, we are most grateful. You can help, too, by collecting marine debris on your beach outings, as well as, at home, no matter where you live–by making different consumer choices to reduce plastic consumption. For ideas on how to do that, click here.

Last week, on a sunny day, our second pup of the year graduated to “weaner” status and was tagged RJ36. After about six weeks of dedicated nursing, RJ36’s mother, RK30, weaned him and headed back to the nourishing depths of the ocean to replenish the approximate one-third body weight she lost during the nearly six weeks she nursed RJ36 to a healthy weaner weight in the neighborhood of 175 pounds.

While the procedure to tag monk seal weaners only takes about five minutes, the effort to tag this pup took much longer–all due to the remote location of where RK30 chose to birth.

For years now, the Kauai Hawaiian Monk Seal Hui has been aided when accessing remote beaches by marine biologist Captain Tara Leota, sole owner-operator of Kauai Sea Rider Adventures. Captain Tara leads small groups of ecologically-minded guests on snorkeling adventures around Kauai. Captain Tara, her crew, and her guests welcomed our tagging team aboard her 25-foot rigid inflatable boat for the adventurous journey to find RJ36.

Currently, the way we track matriarchal lineage of monk seals is by visual observations of mothers and pups. As such, our goal is always to tag pups within days of their weaning. Once weaners start exploring other parts of the island and mixing with other monk seals, we cannot be sure of their lineage. Thus, Captain Tara has likely helped us know with surety the matriarchal lines of six or eight monk seals over the years. That’s a great effort.

Now, that PK1 is exploring the world on his own, our team was able to catch him and attach a pair of “temple” tags to his hind flippers. This will allow us to track him throughout his life. The color of the tag indicates where the animal was born. Red is used for all Main Hawaiian Island pups. The first letter indicates the year it was born. In this case, “J” for 2017. The two numbers that follow the letter are unique for each individual animal. Two tags are attached, one in the left flipper and the other in the right flipper, in case one breaks. And because the way the tags are numbered when they’re made, each seal gets an even and an odd number. However, we mainly refer to them by the even number.

Thus, from now on, PK1 will be referred to at RJ22.

At the same time that RJ22 was flipper tagged, measurements of length and axillary girth were taken, a tissue sample collected, and a micro-chip pit tag (much like the kind used with dogs and cats) was inserted. All this gets done in about five minutes. RJ22 reacted calmly throughout the entire effort. So much so that when the team finished, he rested calmly for about 10 minutes before heading to the water for a swim.

Over the holiday weekend, at 41 days of age, PK1 weaned! That is, his mother headed back to sea to replenish her lost energy stores. As you can see from this photo taken at 36 days of age, PK1 had almost surpassed his mother in girth–but not length. He’s got some growing to do for that.

For the entirety of the 41 days since PK1’s birth, he has nursed, gaining weight and growing stronger. For that same nearly six weeks of time, his mother, RK22, has not fed. This is perfectly normal in monk seal’s life history.

RK22 has given her pup plenty of fat stores for him to spend the next few weeks and months figuring out where food really comes from–the sea. As you can see from this photo, PK1 is adjusting to life as a “weaner” with aplomb.